TomTom GO 920T

Nov

11

2007

As of this writing, the TomTom GO 920T is the top of the line GPS system from TomTom. No holding back, no features left out for other higher end models. And for North American users the 920T and 920 is currently the only model to offer voice prompted address entry. This model also comes with a remote control, an RDS-TMC traffic receiver, and European map coverage in addition to the North American maps. So how well does it all work?

The TomTom 920T builds on what the 720 offers. There are many new features added to the 920, so we are only going to focus on the attributes that differentiate it from the 720. We’ll have plenty to cover.

North America & Europe Mapping

The 920T adds mapping of both North America and Europe in the internal memory. If those maps are not enough– say you are going to Australia– then you can load maps onto an SD card and put the card into the empty SD card slot. There is only about 170 MB of free space left on the internal 4GB drive. Of course there is a pond in between North America and Europe, so to access the European maps, go to [Menu -> Change Preferences -> Manage Maps -> Switch Maps] sometime as you cross the Atlantic.

Voice Assisted Address Entry

I think what most people will be interested in hearing about is voice prompted address entry, with the question “does it work?”. In a word, yes. But there are some things you should know. There are two methods you can use to enter an address using voice prompts, the way that works and the way that doesn’t.

Spoken Address

Spoken Address is the way that doesn’t work. Well, that might be too harsh. When you select Spoken Address the 920 will ask you for a city, you speak the name of a city. The 920 listens for your requested city and responds with a list of cities that sound like what you said. Then you tap (yes, with your finger) on the city you are looking for. Next you speak the name of the street, wait for the suggestions, and tap on your street. This method is a hybrid between spoken commands and a purely touch screen input method. While it does avoid having to use a keyboard to spell things out, it still requires frequent taps on the screen to enter an address. If you’re going to go for it, you might as well jump in with two feet, so I didn’t like this method that much.

Spoken Address (Dialog)

This method is what most people will think of for voice prompted address entry. After entering this command, it asks you to say a city. After listening for your city, it presents you with a numbered list of cities that sound like what you said. You can then speak the number that represents the city you were looking for. If the correct match is at the top of the list, you simply say “one”.

The same goes for entering a street. You say the name of the street and the TomTom 920T responds with a list of streets that sound like they could be good matches, and you speak the number next to the name of the correct street. Once you have the city/street, you speak the digits for the street number. So you would say “one nine zero zero” for 1900. Assuming the 920 hears you right, you then can say “done” to calculate a route to that location.

So how well does it work?
I got in the car, started it up, and safely parked on the side of a highway where I would have some good background noise of cars speeding by. I also opened the windows a bit to let in more sound to better simulate the noise environment while driving. Then, I had a list of 100 addresses printed out and went through each one to see how often the TomTom 920 would hear me right.

The results? 92% pass rate. So there were four times that for whatever reason I couldn’t complete the address through voice prompts alone and needed to resort to the keyboard. That doesn’t tell the complete story though, there were a couple of times when it didn’t hear me properly on the first try and I needed to go back (something you can still do with voice control) and say something over again. That happened 28% of the time. So overall, 72% of the time it heard the city, street, and street number without me needing to repeat myself, and 92% of the time I was able to enter the address entirely with voice prompts, without touching the touchscreen.

72% might sound low, but even with those cases I didn’t need to use the touchscreen– I just had to repeat myself. And also there seems to be a bug whereby occasionally it doesn’t listen the first time you enter a street number. For example after selecting the street, the device asks you to enter the street number, the “waiting lips” appear in the top right indicating it is waiting for you to speak, but it doesn’t hear you the first time. The “green light” does go on… but nothing happens. Then if you speak the street number again it will recognize it just fine.

Had it not been for that glitch, which I presume can be fixed with an application update, the overall success rate on the first try would have likely been about 90%. Overall, i was happy with the results, but not ecstatic. It takes me a longer amount of time on average to enter an address by voice than it does by touchscreen. The difference is that you can keep both hands on the wheel. However I suspect most people are happy to enter their destination before they leave. And you do still need to occasionally glance over at the display to see when it is listening and to pick items from the list.

View a video of the TomTom 920T showing voice address entry, EPT, and the remote control. (QuickTime format, 2.2 MB) Bonus points if you can identify the artist and song playing while we were messing around with the remote control.

I see some room for a few other improvements as well. Sometimes after speaking the name of a city or street there was only one match for me to pick from. If there is only one likely match, why not automatically select it? Also when you enter a street number that is out of range using the touch screen method, a hint will appear showing you the valid address range for that street. The same thing doesn’t happen when using voice prompting, it simply won’t accept the number leaving you to wonder why. Even if you do recognize it might be because your number is out of range you are left guessing what a number in the range might be.

You might have noticed that nowhere did I mention state names. Changing states does require use of the touch screen. It will assume you want to search in your current state or the last state you searched in, otherwise you need to tap the state you want on the touch screen.

Two other minor issues are that it occasionally cuts itself of when speaking back to you. When it tries to say “Please state street” sometimes only “Please st” comes out. Finally, when speaking street numbers if you happen to say something that gets recognized as “cross street” I found it impossible to tell it “back” like I could when other mistakes were made.

While it may sound like there are a number of issues, let’s not forget that I did achieve a 92% success rate without touching the screen, and that is an A- in most schools. Also it isn’t uncommon to make typos while typing out addresses on the touch screen so I wouldn’t compare 92% against 100% as I’m not 100% accurate with my fingers on the touchcreen.

Voice Prompt Tips

Voice entry does take a little bit of practice. After the first few minutes I wanted to throw the thing out the window. A short time later I was getting better results, but didn’t think I’d use it since I’m faster on the touch screen. After spending a little time practicing I could see myself switching and using it.

I wanted to see how much of the voice prompting I could do without touching the screen, and here are a few tips to help setup your 920T to use voice prompting with as few touch inputs as possible.

Setup Spoken Address (dialog) as a Quick menu item. This puts a small icon on the main navigation screen that allows you to start a voice address entry with one click rather than the four it would take you otherwise. Go to Menu -> Change Preferences -> Quick Menu Preferences -> and check the box ‘Navigate to Spoken address (dialog)’. Now when you want to enter an address by voice, just tap the new icon on the main navigation screen.

Set the Route Summary screen to automatically disable. When activated, the Route Summary screen displayed after a route is created will automatically disappear after 10 seconds. You won’t have to click ‘Done’ after entering the destination. To change this setting to go Menu -> Change Preferences -> Planning Preferences -> Done -> and then select ‘Yes’ to the question about closing the route summary screen automatically after 10 seconds.

Wait for the lips before you speak. The 910T will ask for you to speak something like “please state city” and then a set of lips will appear in the top right of the display. The 920 isn’t listening until you see the lips, and sometimes I was a little fast (or just impatient).

Mute your stereo. This probably goes without saying, but the 920 might have some difficulty if it needs to figure out exactly what noise to listen to. I was able to enter addresses with the radio on at a reasonable level, but the accuracy rate did go down. Mute or pause the music and your results will certainly improve. If Tommy Tutone is playing you might wind up at street number 8675309 instead of where you were trying to go.

Remote Control

I’ve never used remote controls much with GPS devices– I typically mount them within arms reach so I never saw the need. And when talking with other owners who purchased devices with remote controls, many of them said they didn’t use them much either. But I was pleasantly surprised that they were fairly useful. I’m probably not going to run out and buy a remote for each of my devices, but it did grow on me.

The remote is very iPod like– not too many buttons, the top looks like a click-wheel, and nothing is labeled. Despite having ten unlabeled buttons, everything was quite intuitive. I never needed to pull out the manual to figure out what each button was for. In fact, the thing I had the most trouble with was just getting the (included) batteries installed. I had the right idea, but boy is that thing tight. The remote also comes with a little holder with an adhesive backing for mounting somewhere in your car.

The buttons are pretty smart and change their function based on the current screen. While navigating the up and down buttons zoom the map in and out. The left and right buttons change to the previous or next track. The center button sends you to the menu, and the volume up and down buttons change the volume of the voice prompts.

I couldn’t find many tasks that couldn’t be accomplished using the remote control. You can even go so far as to enter addresses with the remote, sliding across the on-screen keyboard with the arrow buttons on the remote. Address entry is not very fast at all when using the remote, but if your GPS is mounted too far away to reach, it will get the job done.

Enhanced Positioning Technology (EPT)

This feature allows the GPS to use its own “gut feel” to determine your location if the GPS signal goes away. Let’s say you are following a route and the road takes you underground through a tunnel… no GPS reception down there! So the device senses accelerations and decelerations to determine your movement and keep your position updated. Once you get a signal back the GPS location will take over and resume normal operations.

In the video link above you will see where we drive underneath a highway overpass and the GPS signal drops slightly, and you can see the EPT icon near the bottom right of the TomTom screen. Then after we come out the other side the GPS signal resumes.

I’ve gotten the chance to test this feature out in some of Boston’s best tunnels. The verdict? It isn’t as good as having GPS, but if it was why would we need GPS?

At the time I had three GPS devices on my dash. A Garmin Nuvi, a TomTom ONE, and this TomTom 920T. Soon after getting into the tunnel, the Nuvi would pretty much give up. It would say “Lost Satellite reception” and offer no assistance. Worse, the “error message” covered the screen so I couldn’t see what the next instruction was hiding behind the error message. I wouldn’t want to tap “OK” to that error message while in that kind of traffic, so a passenger did it for me.

The TomTom ONE didn’t perform much better, as would be expected. It seemed to try to estimate my position by just assuming I would continue on my route at the same speed. It too obviously lost my position, but tried to make some guesses about where I was.

So how did the 920T perform? Quite well! It continued to track my position quite well. Out of all the trips in and out of tunnels it correctly kept up with my position each time except for once. That time it seemed to think I had surfaced and was on a parallel street not far offset from my current location. So it didn’t work perfectly all of the time, but most of the time it was able to keep up with my position accurately and properly notify me of turns and intersections while underground.

While it didn’t perform perfectly, if I was going to be doing a ton of tunnel driving, I’d want something like the 920T with me.

Traffic Receiver

Since most all of the RDS-TMC traffic receivers on the market today are using the same underlying service (Clear Channel Total Traffic Network) I’m not going to spend too much time talking about the traffic service itself, but rather the design of the receiver and how traffic information is displayed and used on the 920T.

The traffic receiver is basically a long antenna with three suction cup mounts. It is, unfortunately, a rather ugly solution. The Garmin solution of an integrated antenna/power cable is much more elegant. Not many people go far without their power cable and the Garmin solution makes hiding away all GPS components much easier when leaving your car. Unfortunately you can’t use the Garmin receiver with your TomTom.

The TomTom RDS-TMC receiver connects to the bottom of the device, and sticks out a good inch. So if you have your GPS mounted with the suction cup mount to a horizontal surface (such as using the adhesive disc or with a third party friction mount) the screen doesn’t have enough clearance to be mounted 90° vertical. It will need to be at more like 60° which might make it more difficult to see the screen.

I also don’t see many people removing the receiver often when they leave their car. You would need to disconnect the three suction cups to pull everything down and that will just get too annoying. So instead you are left to give thieves a possible signal that there is a nice GPS in your car.

On the plus side though, it does put the antenna in a more optimal position to receive the traffic signal. In my testing it performed slightly better at finding a traffic signal than other antennas on other models connected to the same service on the same frequency. Despite having a better signal than most other receivers, my tests showed that I still didn’t get anywhere close to the range that the Clear Channel Total Traffic Network maps suggested I would get.

Once you are connected up and have a signal, the traffic information is downloaded into your device. On the right side of the screen a “traffic bar” will appear. At the top your signal status is displayed, and this location represents the end of your route. At the bottom, the beginning of your route is represented. If there are incidents along the way, those will be displayed along the traffic bar proportional to how far ahead on the route they are. If there is estimated to be a delay in your arrival time based on that incident, the number of minutes of delay will be shown. Also at the bottom is a number showing the distance ahead on your route where the next incident is.

If you are familiar with the “Browse Map” view on TomTom devices, you can also view traffic information on a screen like that. Road colors change based on the current conditions. We will have another article on the traffic service in the future, but wanted to give you a taste for now.

Purchasing Advice

If you are trying to decide between the 920 and 920T, the only difference is the traffic receiver. Regardless if you purchase the receiver with the 920T, or as an accessory to the 920, it will come with a 12 month trial subscription. However you will pay about $30 more for it as an accessory.

If you are debating about the 720 versus 920 or 920T there are more considerations. Many people will look at the 920/T due to the included European mapping. You will certainly save money by purchasing the maps this way, and will get a host of other features (remote, voice address entry) along with it. The maps of Western Europe are about $170, the remote is about $60 if purchased as an accessory. It is difficult to put a price tag on what voice prompted address entry is worth.

So if you are looking for European maps, certainly go with the 920/920T. If you want the remote or the voice address entry, you will need to decide if it is worth the additional cost. And if you frequently get lost driving underground– then a 920 or 920T is most likely in your future.

385 Responses

alont the same lines, regarding downloading information from the web, I am still curios as to the answer to the question I put (#296) regarding getting 930 software onto the 920 by identifying it on first log-in as a 930?

richard - August 8th, 2008

jennifer, your best bet is to contact TomTom support. You wouldn’t otherwise be able to download them automatically.

Richard – Not sure why you would want to do that. There wouldn’t be anything extra you would get on your device.

Tim - August 8th, 2008

Tim – I was hoping to improve my 920 by getting Active Lane Guidance and Navcor8 speed limit and speed limit warnings as you mentioned in your 930 review. What do you think?

richard - August 8th, 2008

Richard, you can install the necessary application to get those features now through HOME. What your device lacks is the map that includes that data. TomTom hasn’t released a map with that data that is compatible with the 920 yet, but once they do you can buy the map and then you will have those features. Trying to trick your device into thinking it is something it isn’t wouldn’t provide any advantage.

Tim - August 8th, 2008

Tim or Richard

Were you able to get the 930 softward to work on the 920? I would like to know what happened or if it worked.

paul - August 9th, 2008

Paul, the application version between the 920 and 930 is pretty much identical. There would be no advantage running the “930” application on the 920— it is the same thing.

Tim - August 9th, 2008

No, I haven’t done my first log-in yet. I was waiting to hear what other’s thought about my idea, which I didn’t think of myself – I read it on a different forum. If there is no advantage, it doesn’t makse sense to try. When I get a chance I will try to find where I read it and see if it worked out well for the other person.

richard - August 9th, 2008

Just wondering if this can be plugged into your car aux jack for power? I see a people mentioning battery life to be about 5 hours so Im wondering if it can be plugged in also and if it comes with the unit or you have to buy it seperately?

Tom - August 19th, 2008

Tom, the device comes with a car adapter (cigarette lighter style) so it can be used and charge at the same time.

Tim - August 19th, 2008

Tim,
1. Is there any upgrades in models over 920 (930?). Is the model dated now and i should look for latest one.

2. Is this series (720, 730, 920, 930) WAAS enabled?

Thanks

GB - August 21st, 2008

1) The x30 models (like the 930/t) are the most curret right now.

2) No, WAAS is not enabled as it is not needed for auto navigation. It does drain battery life such is why although the hardware supports it, the function is (thankfully) disabled.

Tim - August 21st, 2008

I have a 920 and would like to upgrade to get some of the 930 features. Can I do that and how do I do that?

paul brown - August 22nd, 2008

I am most interested in the TomTom GO 920T because of the speed alert. I seem to get a few to many tickets because I am not paying attention. The local streets seem to get me the most. Does the 920T automatically know speed limits of all streets? If it does, does this information become more comprehensive with time? If so how long, living in Utah. Can I manually enter a speed limit for given streets if it is not provided? Bottom line – I would buy this primarily for the speed limit feature and mostly for local streets…will I be disappointed? Thanks

Charles - August 31st, 2008

You won’t see speed limit data for all streets.

Tim - August 31st, 2008

Charles, in the latest version of North America maps, TomTom includes speed limits for most interstate routes. I just drove from Portland, OR to West Valley City, UT and local roads do not (yet) show speed limits. And I haven’t seen any method for adding them yourself. The 920 is great, but until the maps get updated to include local limits it sounds like this won’t help you.

John - August 31st, 2008

Oh – and even where the interstate speed limits are on TomTom’s map, they do NOT reflect temporary changes – like for work zones. So you do still need to watch the signs which may conflict with what the TomTom has.

John - August 31st, 2008

I used my son’s 920t in Germany for 3 weeks.Drove over 2100 km on german roads that never show exit numbers ,street names, a real mess. Never once did the 920t mislead us.We had other cars following us south of Munich(40 km back-up on autobalm).The gps sent us thru small walled cities around farms, you would have thought we were born in germany not florida.Iam ordering my 920t now.

Bruce - September 21st, 2008

Tim,

I frequently need GPS help in Europe so a few years ago I bought the Magellan Roadmate 760 with North America and Europe. Now my Roadmate screen is starting to get pretty dim, the directions with the new data base is a problem, and replacement parts (the cheap plastic cradle) are soon going to be unavailable and I am looking for a replacement.

This 920T sounds like it might do the trick. Have you heard anything one way or the other about the European data base? How is the customer service compared to Magellan (the Magellan customer service is driving me away from looking at their product lines)

Bill - September 21st, 2008

The European maps are quite good, and their customer service is also much better than Magellan.

Tim - September 22nd, 2008

I have a tomtom 920T works very well ,im very satified with him just that he doesent has the map of roumania.i thought that its better than garmini but its not, garmini has more maps ,can you fix this problem for me i wnat to keep mi tomtom

jose008 - September 22nd, 2008

Update
I have been using 920 for 4 months now and I would not recommend it. The main reasons are the following:
-It uses postal cities for addresses, so unless you know or can guess the city it will not find the street address in major urban areas. Means I have to use paper map or Internet map first and once I have done this, I don’t bother turning on the GPS
-I have now tested it 3 times for long distance travel and in all cases it picked the longest way to get to the destination. When I went the shorter way and the 920 finally accepted the route I was going, the 920’s own travel time dropped by 45 – 60 minutes. The routes I choose were obvious routes anybody would have picked if they had a map.

-Battery life is terrible

There are a number of annoying small things, which I could live with like, deleting/editing POI, I out in (probably me not able to find the way to do it) or adding POI to existing groups/category, length of time to get a signal ~5 minutes, bluetooth answering phone but I could not hear anybody on the other end (strange it worked at first).
My first GPS was for aviation and it works quite well, but does not have to do as much. I don’t know if I am expecting too much from GPS at this point.

p sky - September 25th, 2008

I’ve been playing around my new Go 930 & thought I’ve mastered much of it. However, as I started trying out the Spoken Dialogue, it asked several times for a city. It kept trying to find Canadian cities, instead of ‘Ann Arbor.’ So I figured out where to switch the search to USA.

After the country switch was reset, the option of ‘Navigate to Spoken address (dialog)’ had completely disappeared from my ‘Quick Menu Preferences.’

It no longer appears in the list of options to check.

I’ve disabled recirded voice, disabled voice, changed the voice, checked see if the option appeared again (not there), re-enabled, turned off the TomTom, turned on.. To see if the option would return, and it isn’t there. How do I get it back as an option?

Thank you for all the help Tim

Maja - September 25th, 2008

I’m not really sure, I haven’t seen that before.

Tim - September 25th, 2008

I’ve restored the 930 from a backup I made last night, frustratingly the option still does not appear.

should I reboot?

Maja - September 25th, 2008

Maja, I’m not really sure, I haven’t seen that before.

Tim - September 25th, 2008

Yeaaa, I went to Best Buy & we figured it out (I was amazed!).

Yes, the ‘Spoken address (dialogue)’ had disappeared altogether from the ‘Quick Menu Preferences’ & all the rebooting I tried had not worked.

What worked, was tapping ‘Navigate to…’ then ‘Address’ then start a new ‘Spoken address (dialogue).’ {I was used to using ‘Itinerary Planning’ instead of ‘Navigate to’} After starting a new ‘Navigate to’ route, the choice reappeared in the ‘Quick Menu Preferences’ & it remains. ..It seems like a glitch that the option disappears in the first place, but now we have a resolution to reinstate it.

Maja - September 26th, 2008

NEW QUESTION?

On ‘Itinerary Planning’, I am stumped on how to start a New Itinerary from a location, say Boston, instead of my home (or is it the current location?).

Do you know the steps?

Maja - September 26th, 2008

Itinerary Planning cannot be combined with Offset Routing (Plan Route). It will start the route from your current location.

Tim - September 27th, 2008

How do you feel when you get lost with the help of a GPS?! How do you feel when you are take for granted?! I purchased the 920 and guess what an old version of the map full of mistakes and errors.
Called customer service and advice to buy the new map ($150), because the one from GPS(original) has mistakes.
Other less expensive GPS are more reliable that TomTom.
And to put the cherry on the cake TomTom not compatible with iPhone.

JUlian - October 3rd, 2008

Did you take advantage of the Latest Map Guarantee when you purchased the GPS? The 920 works great with my iPhone, both the original and the 3G.

Tim - October 3rd, 2008

I have the latest map guaranty , but is not useful, are to many mistakes on the map. I called customer service ,but this was the advice to purchase $150 new map.
About iphone works only as a bluetooth but traffic, cameras no

Julian - October 3rd, 2008

It isn’t TomTom’s fault that the iPhone can’t be used for traffic services. Apple and AT&T don’t allow the phone to be used in a tethered mode as a modem for an external device which is necessary for TomTom to be able to use it for a data connection. So you can blame Apple for that one.

Tim - October 3rd, 2008

I agree about the iphone but is TomTom fault about the crapy maps with mistakes and errors. And how they are pushing maps, the ones from devices are wrong and the good one cost $150.00

Julian - October 3rd, 2008

Every GPS will contain mapping errors, just an unfortunate aspect of the large amount of labor involved in mapping. But if you have the most recent map, a different map won’t make any difference. In other words they don’t have a more detailed (“the good one” as you said) map available than what you have…. they just push out more recent maps. So if you have the most recent map available for your device, purchasing a map for a different model won’t get you any additional detail. If you were to spend $150 you wouldn’t get a more detailed map– but you might (depending which map you have installed) get a more recent one.

The best thing you can do (if you want to be proactive) is to report the errors to the map vendor, Tele Atlas. They have a process where you can report map errors at mapinsight.teleatlas.com

I’ve probably got 30 or 40 different GPS devices sitting here in my office right now, and unfortunately I can show you mapping errors on all of them.

Don’t take me wrong– I’m not saying you should be happy with what you have. Rather just trying to set some expectations and the reality of the current state of mapping. The world isn’t as well mapped as we would like to think.

Tim - October 3rd, 2008

I reported to Tele Atlas, but they say that the issue is fixed on the new map, version 8.01, mine is 7.1.
But how do you feel that I exit from the hwy and I know that I have to go east (left) and the GPS tells me to go right. I go right and in few meter is saying that when possible I have to make a legal U turn?!

Julian - October 3rd, 2008

That sounds like a turn restriction error, in which case you could correct it directly on your device through the MapShare feature and share that change with other TomTom users.

Tim - October 3rd, 2008

Is 920 really can be upgraded to 930 by just do the software and map upgrade? Are their hardware specifications exactly the same? I have put a 920 and a 730 (they don’t have 930)side by side inside a local Futureshop, 920 showed no signal but 730 has a rather strong GPS signal! The 920 installed with versions 7 software and map. Signal receiving and graphic are both poorer than 730. Will the software upgrade solves these problems?

Cam - October 26th, 2008

Yes, the hardware of the 920 and 930 are identical so far as I know. Differences in reception can be attributed to a number of software factors and I wouldn’t take any in-store reception performance as an indication of quality with any GPS.

Tim - October 26th, 2008

The 920 line has been discontinued, as I found out at a local Best Buy store yesterday. I bought a 930 as a gift for my sister, and per her wishes, tried it on the way back from the store. The Map interface looks slightly different, more 3D-ish. The software is version 8, which includes something new called ‘advanced lane guidance’. Other than these, I saw no difference… Well, except perhaps one thing. When my 920T recalculates the route, it displays the new directions on my screen (top right, and bottom). The directions displayed on the 930 screen disappeared after recalculation, and the voice prompt stopped also. I had to poke at the left bottom corner to bring up the volume button, and then the voice prompt returned. Weird!!

But this is official… The TomTom Go 920T product is a lot, L-O-T better than the Garmin Nuvi 770 that I had bought initially as the gift. The Nuvi has nice maps, but the onscreen features are a lot more interactive (and hence problematic while driving) than intuitive. A lot more useful information is displayed on screen by my 920T. The most distinguishable feature was the GPS fix and route recalculation between the Nuvi 770 and the 920T. The 920T does it in a snap; the vehicle tracking is really real-time (which saved me a lot of scare and panic on a night-time drive during a recent 3000 mile road trip), and the device recalculates the alternate route within 2 seconds. But even after full signal strength, the Nuvi does not recognize a missed exit or a different route until after the vehicle has already 400-500 feet; that is unacceptable, and frankly, quite hazardous in unknown territory. I tried it on local roads, as well as on Interstate 95 – with the same irritating result. I returned it to the store, and bought the 930 promptly.

Kausik Datta - October 26th, 2008

Thanks for the replies! So anyone has upgraded their 920 or 920T for the new versions of software and map did find the improvements in display and/or signal reception? Since the x30 series are newer than x20 models, is it possible that the hardware may also be different? It is all becasue I am planning to buy a much price reduced 920 and then upgrade the software & map through Home that may end up I will have a 930! That must be a very good deal. Am I right?

Cam - October 26th, 2008

Correct, there is no hardware difference between a 920 and a 930. You can purchase a 920, upgrade to the latest application, update to the latest map, and essentially have the TomTom 930 I reviewed here.

Tim - October 26th, 2008

Bought the 920 and updated both the software and maps with no problem. Excellent! I had the auto shut problem in the first day. It only happened when connected to the charger in my car. Finally found that it was the problem of the charging cable. The one I used is for another GPS. After switched back to the one that come with the 920, no more auto shutdown.

I have a question. I can put 2Gb of mp3 onto a 8Gb SD card. 920 can play all those songs. So, can I move the maps to the SD card and it still works? The new versions of maps for North America and Europe are too big for the 4Gb internal memeory!

Now I am looking for how to use the plus service by using the GPRS connection. How can I do that?

Cam - October 31st, 2008

How did you get the mp3 to play from the 8GB card, when i insert the card, in the GPS, it does not recognize it.

Please help

Errol - October 3rd, 2010

Yes, you can move everything (maps, application, voices) to an SD card if you would like.

For PLUS services make sure you have a compatible phone with a compatible data plan, sign up for the service through the TomTom HOME program, pair your phone, and the services should work through your device.

Tim - November 1st, 2008

How does one upgrade to the latest application and maps to get a 930? I am a little nervous on doing it with out some explaining the process.

p sky - November 4th, 2008

You can get the application updates through TomTom HOME. Once you have the latest application you can purchase/download the newer map.

Tim - November 4th, 2008

I have just bought a 920T. On mine the text-to-speech occasionally plays up – like it coughs and splutters over a street name or a direction. Also the screen seems to flicker. Is this normal or have I got a defective unit ? Any thoughts anyone ?

Paul Curtis - December 22nd, 2008

My 920 has been behaving flawlessly till the last update when it started the speech stuttering thing too. I have been waiting for a new update to fix this?

John - December 22nd, 2008

Paul & John, our forums has info about the stuttering issue as well as a way to fix it. I’d provide a direct link but I’m replying from a mobile phone. But you should find it in the GO section of our forums.

Tim - December 22nd, 2008

How do I find this ‘GO’ section? I have had the exact same problem since the last update, and I am so glad to find out that I am not the only one. There are two features of this problem.
(1) The stuttering does not occur with a real person’s voice (which cannot read street names). It occurs only with the computer voices (which can call out street names).
(2) If I happen to receive a phone call through the GPS, the stuttering goes away for about a half hour before it starts up again.
I would be so glad to find a solution to this!

Kausik Datta - December 22nd, 2008

Kausika and anyone else looking to fix the stuttering or FM transmitter problem, here is the link to how you can revert to the previous application version.

Suggestions that I got from the TomTom Go forum seem to have helped me resolve the stuttering problem. It basically involved overwriting the files of the old 8.3 app with a newer version of the 8.3 app. Those interested can check here:http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=9458

HTH.

Kausik Datta - December 24th, 2008

I just posted a comment here and it disappeared. Did I do something wrong? There was a hyperlink to a post in the TomTom Go forum.

Kausik Datta - December 24th, 2008

Hi, I have just brought a tomtom 920t expecting it to have active lane guidence on it but it says the map or map version you are using is not compatible with lain guidance it has version 8.300 on it can you help many thanks.
brian

brian - January 4th, 2009

That sounds like the application version, not the map version. You can use TomTom HOME to get the latest map update, or if it doesn’t offer the map you can call TomTom support and they can get it added to your account if you are within the 30 day latest map guarantee.

Tim - January 4th, 2009

Actually, I had a very similar problem after buying a new map for my 920T. You MUST call their customer service. Chances are that the first representative will politely tell you that nothing can be done about this (It happened to me). Do not despair. If you have bought your GPS device recently, you have every right to get the updated map version without incurring extra cost. Ask to talk to a supervisor, and when he/she comes, explain the situation to him once more. The supervisor can have the link to the updated map immediately sent to the linked email account. Follow the instructions, backup stuff on your device, install the new map, and enjoy!

Oh, and if you do not already have an SD card of at least 2GB size, it is time to get one, because the map update process temporarily requires about that much space.

Kausik Datta - January 4th, 2009

I bought my 920T on 2-5-08, almost a year ago. Recently, when I tried to use the Latest Maps Guarantee that came with my unit, I got an error message saying the offer had expired. Knowing that I was within the one year period shown on the LMG card, I called and talked to TT customer service. I was told the only way I could take advantage of the offer was if I had the sales receipt. I had to go to the store where I bought the unit and get a duplicate which I then emailed to TT. Then I had to call them up to ask them to verify the info I had just sent them so they would place the North America and Europe maps in my linked email account on tomtom.com. I found out during my conversations that it is advisable to make a back-up using the Windows Explorer Copy and Paste procedure rather than using the back-up feature in TT Home. Apparently TT is aware of several instances where the Back-up feature malfunctions. I received my new maps, backed-up my data, switched to a 17 GB SD card and then restored onto the SD card with the new maps and everything works as intended. Even the glitch I was having in which I could pair my iPhone with the 920T but couldn’t hear the person at the other end of the hands free call resolved itself. The unsettling thing is that I could find no clear answer for why the hands free feature wasn’t working in the first place, nor afterward could I determine what I did that fixed the problem.

What I’ve found is that in dealing with the TT product one should be prepared for some frustration. A number of features fail to work as one would intuitively expect. The TT products are very good when compared to other, currently available GPS products, but they are not in the class of such things as Apple’s iPhone 3G which is my new personal standard for measuring electronic devices.

I also had a problem when I updated to the most recent version of the device software. I don’t know how it happened but I ended up with two copies of the software installed on my device. One was on the SD card, the other installed internally. As a consequence, I received an error everytime I tried to use Home to operate my 920T. The error said my device could not be operated by the Home software. Also, everytime I launched Home, when I clicked Update on the Home menu I would get an error message saying there was an update on my device and that I needed to disconnect it and then reconnect it before I could continue. Since TT customer service was closed by the time I ran into this problem I spent 3 hours trying to resolve it. It was only when I had reached a sufficiently high level of frustration that I decided to delete one of the two copies of the device software. The device began working properly afterward.

My intent is not to bash the product because I really like it very much. I hope if there are others out there experiencing similar problems that 1) they’ve found this website and, 2) they find this post helpful.

Bob E - January 29th, 2009

I have TT 920. I am planning a trip to CA. I put in the destination I have saved as a favorite. When it calculates the route, it is not the route I want it to use. I go to “Find alternative route” and use “travel via”, I put in the highway I want it to use and it does recalculate the route correctly, but I want it to SAVE this route so I don’t always have to go into “point on map” and pick out the exact highway on the screen. Is there a way to save the route I want to “my favorites” or to the itenary planning? I can not figure it out.
thanks.

Thanks, just figured it out. I set the specific highway as a “Favorite” and under “Itenary Planning” I added that saved favorite as a “Way Point”. Now my final destination goes through the exact highway I wanted as my way point. Hope this helps any one wanting to travel very specific routes and keep them saved in there Itinerarys.

Jacob - February 1st, 2009

Hi,
I would like to know how can you add a third party media viewer to TT 920. what is the best product you recommend? thank you and more power to this site.

Amang

amang - February 6th, 2009

I don’t work with many of the third party programs much, but a few people in our GPS forums have experience with them– you might want to ask there.

Tim - February 9th, 2009

I have a TomTom 920 and see that my software has an incon on it that inficates lane images. However, when I go to execute this feature itr says my map doesn’t support it. Before I spend over a $100 for a new map, I’d like to know if buyingg the laterst map for it will include a map wghere this feature is included.
Also, the speed alert doesn’t work on my 920, but works on the wifes 130…why?

By the way, I wish TomTom would support Safety Camera’s here in the US. They are all over the Dallas Metroplex.

Thanks,

Rob

Rob - February 18th, 2009

I have the 920. It did not come with the Lane Change technology. But by using the 1 year free map upgrades, I was able to get this for free. I have found to to be of minimal usefulness. It comes on only in very few selected locations, comes on for only about 1 or 2 blocks, and even in areas where it comes on, it sometimes does not come on for the most complex portion of the lane sequence. It is just ‘OK’ for free; I would not pay anything extra for it. Just my 2 cents.

Rich - February 18th, 2009

For everyone that has been waiting on a stuttering fix, check out this thread in our forums and check HOME for an application update.

Tim - March 2nd, 2009

Hi Tim, I have a 920t tomtom and when i switch to computer voices thy dont work any ideas please,Also my speed cameras
dont give me any warning

B Dennington - March 31st, 2009

Hi Tim, something strange happened to my 920T! Till yesterday I was using the handsfree function of the device connecting it to my phone via bluetooth. Since this morning, suddenly the device refuses to connect that very same phone. If I search from the device, it picks up my phone, shows that it is connecting, and then nothing happens. If I simply try to connect to my phone in the usual way, I get a “Cannot connect” error message on the device. If I try to connect to the 920T from my phone, again I get a “Cannot connect” error message on my phone. Would you have any idea whatsoever about this issue?

Kausik Datta - June 23rd, 2009

Kausik, I don’t know. Try deleting the phone from the GPS and trying the setup again.

Tim - June 23rd, 2009

I tried that already. Didn’t work!
I don’t know what to do… I use the handsfree function very frequently, and now this happens. I wrote to TomTom support, but they are not obliging yet.
Thanks anyway, Tim!

Kausik Datta - June 23rd, 2009

After one year, after the warranty had expired, the unit would not turn on. It had sat on the shelf most of the time, when I pulled it out for a vacation and charged it up, it would not start. Tech support said they would not repair it, they wouldn’t even try!

If it breaks, you’re SOL and it’s trash!

Mac McCaskie - July 15th, 2009

Hi Mac. I seemed to have the same problem after not using it for a while. I kept forgetting that the unit power switch is 2-3 second delay like the power off switch for a PC. It can be frustrating, especially when you are in a hurry. John H.

John H. - September 15th, 2009

I own Tom-Tom 920 since early 2008 (see my notes above, Feb 2008) and was quite satisfied with it for a long time but I’m not sure that I could say that any longer. First of all the darn thing just resets itself at its own pleasure. Most often this happens when it is updated and right after it is turned on – does this happen to anyone else? Second of all, updates seam to change setting/preferences. This was especially frustrating when I was traveling somewhere after updating it and was trying to input my next address. Most of my options, including destination \address\ was shaded out. I wanted to throw the darn thing out of my window, but was a bit concerned about the other drivers… It wasn’t until much later that I figured out my preferences changed during update (for unknown to me reasons) and for safety concerns I wasn’t able to use certain options until car was stationary. I am pretty good with electronics and I am sure that if this happened to another person not so electronics savvy, they would never figure it out. Another – Bluetooth. Sometimes my phone would connect, other times it wouldn’t. Got a new cell recently, 920 says it’s connected, phone seams to do the same – nothing! I’m not sure if the new phone is on Tom-Tom compatible device list so I guess I can’t complain too much about this but still, if both indicate that they are connected to the other, why don’t they work… All this equals frustration I am certain many other users share… Thanks for reading and good luck with yours…
PS: If anyone found a way around any of the above, please share!
EZ

EZ - July 16th, 2009

similar story. I recently downloaded what I presume will be my last free map update. Then, it lost the ability to call out street names. After a whole lot of time trying to figure out the problem, I determined that it wiped out my street-name compatible voices. Apparently, there are only certain computer recorded voices that will work. I had to do a download of another voice to make it work. Personally, I don’t give a damn about all these different voices. I just want one thatworks. It is a waste of megabytes to have all these voices, especially when most of them are not compatible with street names, and why would we spend the extra money for a GPS that does street names if we didn’t want that capacity??

Rich - July 16th, 2009

Rich, Judging by your description of the problem, it sounds like the issue is really that Tom Tom did a sloppy job of creating their update which changed your voice preferences.

There is a balancing act going on with this device — it is far more than just a GPS due to its ability to act as an MP3 player, a handsfree phone accessory, a photo viewer on top of all of the features related directly to its function as a GPS. We decided to pay more for this device whether we actively use all of them or not.

These additional capabilities necessarily create more complexity for the user who is forced to learn more about maintaining his/her device (which is a cost of doing business that each consumer agrees to upon buying the device). This would not create the level of frustration you are describing all by itself.

Which brings me back to my assertion that the real problem is the inconsistent results obtained by performing an update. For instance, an update should not affect a user’s personal preference settings. Yet it often does. I have had a very similar experience that was not so annoying to me as it apparently is to you. A voice I had installed suddenly disappeared after an update.

Why a company with a share of the GPS market that is as large as that of Tom Tom would tolerate such sloppy performance from employees who have a direct impact on customers’ satisfaction eludes me.

Apparently it eludes you too; I think with good reason.

Bob - July 16th, 2009

Bob, you put it much more elequently than me. It is sloppiness/incompetence.

They didn’t just change my voice preference, though, (i could live with that) they wiped out any voice that was compatible with the capabilities of the device.

It reminds me of the early days of computers where you had to know DOS to keep them going. Owning a device like this should not be such an adventure!

rich - July 16th, 2009

I have had the same problem EVERYTIME that I either update the underlying prgram or upgrade the map only. Very Fustrating!!!!!!! So fustrating that when it cam time to buy my son, daughter and wife a GPS I bought Garmins.

Rob Garland, Texas - July 16th, 2009

I purchased a TomTom 920T back on 22 July 2008. Loved the GPS System till now. The GPS will not turn-on now. I did the reset liked TomTom Home page states. From what I’m reading all over the net this is a common think with this GPS? Anyone having issues and know what to do?

Stephen - August 1st, 2009

What SD card works best with the tt920.

Ralph - September 3rd, 2009

I wish it were that easy, In fact – I discovered I was about 5 days from being out of warranty. They replaced my unit with out much hassle, but now that it’s out of warranty the next time it will be toast.

Mac McCaskie - September 15th, 2009

I have the same question as Jacob (#354). I cannot follow his explanation, nor the TomTom Itinerary Planning link that states \So I zoom in on the map at that intersection, click on part of the route where I want to travel, click the cursor button, and click ‘Add as favorite’. I’ll call it ‘1st bypass’.

How does one \zoom in on the map?\ Where is there a \cursor button?\ How do you then ‘Add as favorite’?

Then, how does one \add my bypass to the route, then add Philadelphia to the Itinerary. I’ll also go ahead and change my first bypass to be a waypoint rather than a destination, leaving Philadelphia as my destination.

It seems as though theyre giving the instructions, but not the \How to!\

Can someone help please?

Mark - November 16th, 2009

Had my TT 920T for about 2 years. About a year into owning it, it quit syncing to my PC. Of course warranty is over and TT states that they do not repair units and it would be best to just buy a new one! Not what I wanted to hear. I went through all the troubleshooting on the TT website and had the TT customer service rep go through everything as well. It simply will not connect. I get the screen that shows it connected but no matter what computer I try (Vista, XP and/or 7) it no longer recognizes the unit. Once I unplug the cable, it reboots and restarts. A year without map updates makes for some frusterating travel! The only solution I can think of is to find another 920 owner (no idea how to do that!) and connect via bluetooth to see if I can swap updates. Otherwise…I’m lost. Buying a new unit again does not seem like a good thing to tell your customers! Especially because I just spent over $400 on this one two years ago. And I just had to buy this one because the Navigon I got in Europe ($699) was connected to the european market and couldn’t be updated on the US dollar! Any thoughts or ideas?

Brian - July 4th, 2010

Brian!! I just had the same problem with my 920!! Support was no help at all. I tried it with another computer and had the same problem there too. THEN I TRIED DOING A HARD RESET on the 920 and it synced perfectly…. use a pen or paperclip to push the reset button on the bottom of your 920 and see if that solves the problem.

John

John - July 6th, 2010

John,
Thanks for the info and reply. I’ve tried that a few times but no luck. I’ve even reset back to the original factory settings (from in the menu)twice with no change…other than losing all of my favorites! Unless I’m missing something, holding the reset button down with a pen, etc, for a few seconds is considered a hard reset…correct? I’ve also held that and the power button as well to see if it would work. Just wondering if I’m missing something! And although the people I talked to at TT customer service were friendly and seemed to try to help, I got the feeling like it was “no big deal” to just go buy a new one because there are better now! Who’s to say that a new one won’t issues after the “year mark”??? I think if I have to buy a new one, it will be another brand. Well thanks again and I hope your’s treats you well!

Brian

Brian - July 6th, 2010

I just downloaded (for the first time) the latest North America map upgrade. Now I’ve lost all of my Favorites!!

Can anyone out there help me retrieve them?? Have I lost them forever?

Please help!!!

Mark - August 10th, 2010

Hello,
My GO 930 bit the dust. Went to the TomTom website and they don’t even sell the 930 anymore. I guess I could find it on ebay but I was thinking I should just move up to the current technology.

The reason I had the 930 was for the european maps. From what I can tell the XXL 540WTE is the only one that has european maps….am I right ??

Can I buy another model and add european maps to it at a later date? Are only certain models compatible with european maps?

I am totally confused now and any help here would be greatly appreciated so I can sort out this mess. I am so out of it on the GPS because I always had my reliable TT and no problems so I did not keep up with whats out there these days…